ROBERT Thomson hopes to make a full return for Morton soon after a ‘very frustrating’ spell out injured.

The forward had an operation on a groin injury midway through pre-season after playing through the pain for most of last term.

He has yet to play in this campaign for Ray McKinnon’s side but was named on the Ton bench for their last two fixtures and featured in a bounce game for the reserves this week.

The Cappielow boss has stressed the player is still to reach full fitness and will only feature for 10 to 15 minutes if called upon — but Thomson hopes he can be back in contention to start soon.

He told the Tele: “It’s been very frustrating, but it’s just one of these things that you need to deal with.

“For most of last season I was struggling with it and I’m still not completely over it at the moment.

“I started pre-season and tried to do some rehab and strengthening work to see if that would settle it and to try and get away with not having an operation.

“But a few weeks after the off-season I had to contact the physio again because it wasn’t getting any better, which wasn’t ideal as it would have been better to get it done at the start, but I was trying to avoid getting an operation.

“I’m still getting niggles, but hopefully the more strength work I do the easier it will get.”

The striker played 45 minutes for the reserves in a closed-doors friendly on Monday, and he hopes to build on his fitness with John Sutton’s side to get back up to full speed.

He said: “Last week was my first full week training, and even if I am able to contribute to come off the bench for a short time I’ll hopefully add something different to the side.

“But like the gaffer said, I need to get more minutes under my belt.

“I played 45 minutes for the reserves on Monday and that was my first half since last season.

“It’s just a case of getting more minutes for my legs and more time training, it’s just about getting the match sharpness back.

“It’s a case of trying to put the work in at training and trying to get some minutes for the reserves and be ready to play if called upon.”

The forward played under McKinnon at Brechin City when he was manager of the Angus-based club a few seasons ago.

Thomson hopes having been a part of his team back in 2014-15 will work in his favour when he is back fully fit.

He added: “I am possibly fortunate that I’ve worked with the gaffer before and that he knows what I’m capable of.

“But when it’s a fresh start with a new manager it’s frustrating not being able to show what I’m capable of.”